The Future is OW...

So much for the summer of optimism. Two franchise faces are in sick bay... what lies in store for the Skins and Nats?

Donovan and out-- a sprained ankle has #5 on the shelf for the Jets preseason game... and likely he won't go out for the ceremonial possession against Arizona, meaning his next live situation will be opening night against Dallas. Not ideal but not an impossible situation. Just as scary is the loss of Kareem Moore for 3 to 6 weeks... the safety looked like he was coming along...and a shaky secondary is the last thing a new 3-4 scheme needs to deal with.

Strasburg on the shelf-- let the record show the Nats did everything they could to prevent the phenom's likely impending Tommy John surgery. If it were legal to dust off the righthander's arm in between pitches they would have... bad arms are just a fact of life in baseball. Ironically Jordan Zimmerman's just come back from TJS the week that Strasburg's troubles percolated. The righthander's rehab lasted roughly 16 months... so one would think Strasburg might be ready by opening day 2010. While this is less than ideal, there are plenty of reasons to have the Nats glass half-full. The signing of Bryce Harper means hopefully there will be another high-level talent in the lineup eventually.

Sixteen going on eighteen-- after 30+ years with the perfect schedule, the NFL is grabbing more cash in the form of two extra regular season games while slicing its preseason to two games. While I'm not a fan of August football... I'm even less enthused with a more bloated regular season slate. Sixteen games is perfect-- just enough to make every game meaningful while giving teams more than enough opportunities to play their way into the postseason.
One benefit of an expanded slate would be the rebirth of interconference local rivalries: make the Redskins and Ravens play every year... and you'll stoke the flames of dislike. Who wouldn't want to see the Jets and Giants bring out the worst of both fan bases (not to mention the Post back page)?